American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 121, No. 2: 159-167
Copyright © 1985 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
research-article |
THE NATIONWIDE NOSOCOMIAL INFECTION RATE
A NEW NEED FOR VITAL STATISTICS
1Hospital Infections Program, Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services Atlanta, GA
Address for reprints: SENIC Project, 
Public Inquiries Office, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333
From a random sample of patients and hospitals and extrapolation ratios derived from the best available sources of data, the authors estimate that the nationwide nosocomial infection rate among the 6,449 acute-care US hospitals in 1975ndash;1976 was 5.7 nosocomial infections per 100 admissions and that over 2 million nosocomial infections occurred in a 12-month period in these hospitals. Nosocomial urinary tract infections constituted 42% of the infections, surgical wound infections 24%, nosocomial pneumonia 10%, nosocomial bacteremia 5%, and nosocomial infections at all other sites 19%. If adjustments are made for the accuracy of the diagnostic method, the increasing nationwide secular trend, and the number of nosocomial infections in nursing homes, however, as many as 4 million nosocomial infections per year may now be occurring. This greatly exceeds previous estimates and calls for timely and accurate vital statistics on the problem.
cross infection; health policy; health services research; health surveys; hospitals; sampling studies; vital statistics
2Current address:Division of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Southwestern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX
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